Travelocity surges on unsolicited bid

BambiFrancisco

FORT WORTH, Texas (CBS.MW) -- Travelocity shares soared as much as 32 percent Tuesday after Sabre Holdings made an unsolicited offer to pay $345 million in cash for the remainder of the company it doesn't already own.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Sabre, an electronic flight reservation system, plans to offer $23 per share to buy the balance of Travelocity's common stock. This represents a 19.8 percent premium over the closing price of $19.20 on Friday for the online travel services company.

Travelocity acknowledged that it received the offer and said its board has formed a special committee of independent and outside directors to review and evaluate Travelocity's options and make recommendations. The committee appointed Salomon Smith Barney as its financial adviser and Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP as its legal counsel.

Sabre said it will launch its formal tender offer on or soon after March 5, 2002. Sabre currently owns 70 percent of Travelocity's approximately 50 million shares outstanding. "The tender offer will be conditioned on the tender of a number of shares sufficient to bring Sabre's ownership interest in Travelocity common stock to over 90 percent," according to Sabre's release.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.